·       GriffnerHaus acquires joint venture partner's shareholding and is 
         committed to delivering full service to Irish customers

Tuesday 29^th May, 2007: Coillte, the forestry and forest products company, and GriffnerHaus of Austria, the leading designer and manufacturer of timber buildings, have concluded an agreement on the sale of Coillte's shareholding in their Irish joint venture, Griffner Coillte. The deal sees the Austrian company purchase Coillte's 70% stake, to give them 100% ownership of the company.

Griffner Coillte was established under a joint venture agreement between Coillte and GriffnerHaus to manufacture, sell and build top of the range modular timber frame houses in Ireland and has been in operation since 2003.

Under the terms of the agreement announced today GriffnerHaus will acquire 100% ownership of the business and continue to serve all its current and new customers in Ireland. All customers will continue to receive the same high quality service and this announcement will not impact on any current or planned projects.

Commenting on the deal Thomas Schmid of GriffnerHaus said:

"We are pleased to be able to deepen our roots in the Irish market with the acquisition of 100% of the Irish business. GriffnerHaus is committed to the Irish market and to serving current and new customers to the highest standard with a full service team in Ireland.

"In fact we are delighted at the prospects of growing this business in Ireland as part of our pan European strategy."

Commenting on the deal Gerry Britchfield, Managing Director of Coillte Enterprise said:

"We have been conducting a strategic review of all our businesses and took the decision that the manufacture and construction of timber frame houses is not a core part of the future of Coillte. We are a forestry and forest products company and we are pleased that our joint venture partner has decided to increase to 100% their ownership of the business and that there will be continuity for all Griffner Coillte customers. During our time as partners in this business we have seen that there is clearly a market for the products which Griffner Coillte has to offer and we wish GriffnerHaus all the best in the future."

Sales and construction will be maintained in Ireland while manufacturing will be relocated to the GriffnerHaus plant in Austria. This will result in 32 redundancies at the company, as staff numbers are reduced to 9.

Both GriffnerHaus and Coillte would like to thank the workforce in Mullingar for their dedication and commitment during the start-up phase of this business. While there is a clearly demonstrated market for the product, there is not yet sufficient scale to support the 80,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Mullingar operated by the company.

The company will now enter into the statutory  consultation with staff in relation to redundancy arrangements.

The name of the company will change to GriffnerHaus Ireland Ltd.

Financial details of the transaction are not being disclosed.

Ends.

 

For further information:

Tom Byrne
Head of Corporate Communications
Coillte

Tel: + 353 1 201 5231 / 086 810 4224
Email: tom.byrne@coillte.ie 

Gabriele v. Molitor 
GriffnerHaus PR

Tel:  + 49 30 217 50 460
Fax: 217 50 461
Email: pr@gesk.info

Notes to Editors

GriffnerHaus, founded in 1982, is a leading designer and manufacturer of timber buildings in the Austrian, German, Italian, Irish and Swiss markets. GriffnerHaus produces and sells products for an individual approach to house and home culture, meeting the highest demands of design and ecology.

For more information see GriffnerHaus Ireland or www.griffnerhaus.com

Coillte is a commercial company operating in forestry, land-based businesses and added-value processing operations. It has 3 divisions – Coillte Forest, Coillte Enterprise and Coillte Panel Products and employs approx 1,300 people.

For more information see www.coillte.ie 

Tom Byrne
Head of Corporate Communications
Coillte
Dublin Road,
Newtownmountkennedy,
Co Wicklow

Tel: 01 201 5231 / 086 810 4224